This invention relates to terminals in strip form, particularly, a continuous strip of terminal posts or pins in side-by-side spaced apart relationship. Terminal posts or terminal pins are commonly provided by the manufacturer to the user as continuous strips of this type and the user, who might be a manufacturer of electronic equipment, separates the posts from the strip when they are inserted into a printed circuit board or the like.
Terminal posts of the type commonly used in the electronics industry may be manufactured by either stamping the posts from a continuous strip of sheet metal or the posts may be manufactured from a continuous reel of suitable wire which usually has a square cross-section. Wire type posts are manufactured by simply feeding the wire axially through a machine which severs the wire into the proper length pieces for the posts and, forms a conical or tapered surface on the ends of the individual posts. The posts are usually swaged intermediate their ends to provide an enlarged section by means of which they are retained in a printed circuit board.
When posts are manufactured by stamping, they are in the form of a continuous strip as they emerge from the stamping die and the individual posts are sheared from the strip by an insertion machine when they are inserted into a printed circuit board. Stamped terminal posts are widely used but they are relatively more expensive than posts formed from wire because of the scrap loss in manufacturing and wire posts are therefore preferred under many circumstances because of their cost advantage. Wire posts are manufactured as loose piece articles and it is desirable to mount them on a suitable carrier strip so that they can be supplied to the user in the form of a continuous strip, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,664,015, 3,545,606, 3,601,090, and 3,841,472. These patents show several different forms of carrier strips for loose piece terminal posts which have been proposed in the past.
The instant invention is directed to the achievement of an improved carrier strip for loose piece terminal posts and to an improved continuous strip of terminal posts. More specifically, the invention is directed to the achievement of a carrier strip which can be used for posts of different thicknesses and lengths. The invention is also directed to a continuous strip of terminal posts which can be produced with the terminal posts spaced apart by any desired amount. The invention is further directed to the achievement of a terminal post strip from which the individual terminal posts can be easily removed at the time of insertion into a printed circuit board.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of my invention, the terminal posts are mounted on a generally H-shaped carrier strip of extruded terminal plastic material, the posts being in side-by-side spaced apart relationship and extending through the web portion of the carrier strip and between the sidewalls thereof. The arrangement is such that the individual posts are held securely by the web of the carrier strip and they are restrained against movement transversely of their axes by the sidewalls of the carrier strip so that the strip remains flat and even during handling and passage through an insertion machine. The individual posts are easily removed at the time of insertion by a punch which engages the leading post of the strip, and inserts it into a printed circuit board. The punch, simultaneously slits the carrier strip.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved strip of electrical terminal posts. It is a further object to provide an improved strip for terminal posts which are manufactured in loose piece form. A further object is to provide a low-cost terminal strip which will effectively retain the terminal posts therein and from which the terminal posts can be easily removed at the time of insertion into the printed circuit board.